One of my favourite things to do in the Spring is to visit some of my local garden centres. It is a time in between the seasons when you aren’t quite ready to put flowers outside but it is a great source of inspiration. I find that it gets me thinking of great colour combinations and gives me the opportunity to see those pops of colour that we have all been missing during the winter months.
Visiting a garden centre is also a great activity for a rainy day. Garden centers are not only a great resource for inspiration, but they also sell pots, seeds of all kinds, gardening tools, and lots of garden accessories. If you love plants there are also a great selection of tropicals and house plants that can add a fresh pop of green to your home.
The season of Spring represents new beginnings and growth. It is a time of new buds, raindrops, and flowers blooming. I always find that Spring is an opportunity to get excited about warmer weather and getting to see nature start to green up after the long winter.
I love adding Spring decor items to our home. A vase of fresh tulips on the table, new greenery and florals on the mantle, and a tiered tray to display Spring themed things in the kitchen.
Mixing old and new curiosities is a great way to add details to these arrangements. I have collected quite a few different tiered trays over the years from both antique markets and home decor stores, and like how their height shows off my arrangements. I have a few cupboards that I keep my seasonal collections in (well, maybe more than a few, if you ask my husband). These cupboards are my go-to when I am creating a seasonally themed display.
I have collected many vintage items over the years for all the seasons, but some of my favourites are for Spring. I found a vintage mini watering can ornament at an antique market last year, as well as an old wire egg basket, to add to my collection.
I usually always make my decor trays different from the year before. It is a pretty organic process, where I start selecting items and then just play around with placement and adding items here and there. I am super pleased with how this year’s Spring tray turned out. Whenever I look at it, I’m reminded for a wonderful moment of happy Spring things.
Last year I wrote a blog post about updating my front door wreath for Spring, and this year I’m looking to change it up again. I’m using a more expensive green wreath as a neutral base so that I can update and change it in many different ways.
Last year I chose to use yellow flowers and yellow and white faux spring buds, but this year I decided to go in a different direction. On a trip to Micheal’s I was looking up and down the aisles for something that would catch my eye. Low and behold I spotted a lovely basket filled with faux oranges and greenery. The mini oranges looked like mandarins and looked good enough to eat.
I chose three sprigs to add to my wreath and then thought it needed one more simple step. I ended up finding a beautiful open weave orange ribbon that was just delicate enough for a bow.
So, in two simple steps I created an entirely new look for this Spring!
Have you ever just painted carefree and filled up a page with colour?
Recently my daughter introduced me to collage, and the beauty of piecing together painted pieces of paper to create art. She follows a well known artist, Clover Robin, who uses collage brilliantly in her artwork. She is a surface pattern designer and illustrator who lives in England. We have purchased several of her pieces and love her work.
In the classroom, my teaching partner and I have explored Eric Carle and his collage illustrations with our kindergarten students. It was so interesting to learn that he too uses different media and textures to create his illustrations. He then stores the papers in like-colours to use when creating his beautiful, detailed illustrations for his children’s books. As a class, we explored texture and colour with paint and different types of combs and pattern-making supplies. The students then transformed their paintings into collaged flowers inspired by the book, The Tiny Seed. They turned out beautifully and the students gained a better understanding of the creation process.
I was inspired and created these spring flower collages that I wanted to share. The next step that I would like to explore is to try layering and overlapping with the collage pieces to create a more elaborate design.
Do you ever get really excited about something? Well on my latest adventure to my local garden centre I soaked up the wonder of the West Coast Seeds display.
I perused the great selection of seeds and was so excited to find some ground cherry seeds. I had recently seen these on Instagram and was hoping to be able to get my hands on a package. Every year I try to plant something different that I have not tried before. My daughter has brought home ground cherries from the Atwater Market in Montreal and I’ve had them in desserts in fancy restaurants. I am so excited to be able to add them to my dessert plates later on in the summer.
I also found scallopini squash, rainbow blend carrots, and golden beets, all of which I am excited to grow and enjoy from the garden.
Another great find was the West Coast Seeds 2023 Gardening Guide. This booklet is jam packed with an abundance of seed choices, as well as great gardening content. I also checked out the their website and it is a great resource for the home gardener. It has tips and tricks, resources, seeds, supplies. You can even take a seed quiz to see what types of seeds are good to grow in your area!
One of the gardening tools I added to my collection this season is this seed sprayer from Lee Valley. This German made sprayer is gentle enough to use without disturbing seedling roots or soil.
If you have never planted seeds or had a garden I encourage you to try it. It doesn’t have to be big, and you can even create your home garden in pots or containers. Growing your own food, nurturing it, and then being able to harvest it and share it with the ones you love is a wonderful thing. Go plant some seeds!
Here is the perfect quick place setting if you are looking for a little something extra for your Easter table scape!
I found these great mini terracotta pots at my local dollar store. I have reused them multiple times for different projects. They are just so cute!
For this project, I gathered the following materials: a foam ball, wool roving, a small piece of felt for the feet, a glue gun and a felting needle. I simply wrapped the foam ball with the wool roving and began poking it with the felting needle. A special note to those of you that have never used a felting needle, these are super sharp, so practice caution when using them. Once the entire ball was covered I then felted a tail. Then feet were added with hot glue and I even added in a felted orange carrot.
To finish off my little Easter flower pot I cut a piece of card stock to create a little sign, which was hot glued to a cut skewer stick. Green paper shreds fill in the flower pot as a final touch.
I have also used these little pots with paper shreds and mini chocolate eggs for place settings. Another idea is placing some Spring seasonal flowers into the mini flower pots. You can also add family members’ and friend’s names to your card stock signs. This makes your table more personalized and adds a nice touch.
Happy Easter!
Did you know that the pussy willow is the first plant to flower in spring? When spring comes, I’m always on the hunt for pussy willows. They just remind me of new beginnings and the promise of the growing season ahead.
When I was young, the women in my life always had some type of arrangement containing foraged pussy willows. It was just one of those things you looked for in the Spring. Rubber boots were worn and a pair of good clippers had to be in your pocket. Then we were set to collect a bouquet of these ‘Spring Only’ treasures.
In my teens we lived in a house that actually had a pussy willow tree outside my bedroom window. I always thought this was rather magical. In the past we had always had to go hunting for them in boggyish side roads in the country. What a treat!
I still like to go hunting for the infamous Spring pussy willows with my daughter. We came across these beauties not far from our home. It still amazes me how soft and delicate these wonders of nature are.
This is just one of those little things that can brighten your day. When you find them you know that Spring weather is just around the corner.
Let’s say goodbye to the festive wreath on the front door and change things up for Spring.
Today there are rain showers and there is mud in the backyard. Even though there is some snow still on the ground we are all ready for Spring. I heard my first robin singing its song yesterday, so I know that Spring is just around the corner.
I invested in a good quality green multi-seasonal wreath at Home Sense a few years ago. It is such a versatile piece. I find I can make it last through Spring and Summer with some little changes.
With three easy steps I came up with a great Spring look. First I added some simple yellow faux flowers from the Dollar Store. Second, I added in some sprigs of little berries in green and cream tones that I had on hand. And lastly, a little ‘Welcome Spring’ sign from Micheals. Voila; a Springy new wreath for the front door!
Happy Spring everyone! Bring on the puddles, rainbows, and Spring flowers!
